Mississippi gov. signs law allowing service denial to gays

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Protesters call for Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant to veto House Bill 1523, which they says will allow discrimination against LGBT people, during a rally outside the Governor's Mansion in Jackson, Miss., Monday, April 4, 2016. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

A small Human Rights Campaign equality banner flies on the grounds of the Governor's Mansion in Jackson, Miss., as several hundred people rally outside the building and called on Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant to veto House Bill 1523, which many believe will allow discrimination against LGBT people, Monday, April 4, 2016. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Republican Gov. Phil Bryant, right, walks past reporters on his way to a meeting of a youth jobs program board, at the Capitol in Jackson, Miss., Friday, April 1, 2016. Reporters asked him if he would sign a bill that would let government employees and private businesses cite religious beliefs to deny services to same-sex couples who want to marry. Bryant would not say whether he will sign House Bill 1523, noting he had not received it yet and would need to study it first. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi’s governor has signed a law that allows public and private businesses to refuse service to gay couples based on the employers’ religious beliefs.

Gov. Phil Bryant signed House Bill 1523 on Tuesday, despite opposition from gay-rights groups and some businesses. Some conservative and religious groups support the bill.

The measure’s intention is to protect those who believe that marriage should be between one man and one woman, that sexual relations should only take place inside such marriages, and that male and female genders are unchangeable.

The law allows churches, religious charities and privately held businesses to decline services to people violating those beliefs. Individual government employees may also opt out, although the measure says governments must still provide services.

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